O' Thursday let it be;-o' Thursday, tell her, Par. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow. Cap. Well, get you gone :-O' Thursday be it then : : Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed, [Exeunt. SCENE V.-Loggia to Juliet's Chamber. Enter ROMEO and JULIET. Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, a Another term of falconry. The mew is the hawk's cage. Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn," No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east : Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain's tops; I must be gone and live, or stay and die. Jul. Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I: It is some meteor that the sun exhales, To be to thee this night a torch-bearer, And light thee on thy way to Mantua : Therefore stay yet, thou need's not to be gone. Rom. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death; I am content, so thou wilt have it so. I'll say, yon grey is not the morning's eye, "Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow; Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat The vaulty heaven so high above our heads: I have more care to stay than will to go;— Come, death, and welcome!-Juliet wills it so.How is 't, my soul? let's talk, it is not day. Jul. It is, it is, hie hence, be gone, away; It is the lark that sings so out of tune, Straining harsh discords, and unpleasing sharps. Some say, the lark makes sweet division;" This doth not so, for she divideth us: Some say, the lark and loathed toad change eyes; O, now I would they had chang'd voices too! Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day.7 O, now be gone; more light and light it grows. Rom. More light and light ?-more dark and dark our woes. Jul. O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle: If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him That is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune; For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long, But send him back. La. Cap. [Within.] Ho, daughter! are you up? Jul. Who is 't that calls? is it my lady mother? Is she not down so late, or up so early? Where that same banish'd runagate doth live,- Jul. Indeed, I never shall be satisfied. Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him! La. Cap. Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man. But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl. What are they, I beseech your ladyship? That thou expect'st not, nor I look'd not for. day morn, The gallant, young, and noble gentleman, Jul. Now, by St. Peter's church, and Peter too, I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear, It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, Rather than Paris:-These are news indeed! (4) (the other lines being different) has, "That shall bestow on him so sure a draught." b (A), needful. La. Cap. Here comes your father; tell him so yourself, And see how he will take it at your hands. Enter CAPULET and NURSE. Cap. When the sun sets, the earth doth But for the sunset of my brother's son, How now? a conduit, girl? what, still in tears? Without a sudden calm, will overset Thy tempest-tossed body.-How now, wife? La. Cap. Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives I would the fool were married to her grave! How! will she none? doth she not give us Is she not proud? doth she not count her bless'd, you I tell thee what, get thee to church o' Thursday, My fingers itch.-Wife, we scarce thought us That God had lent" us but this only child; Nurse. tongue, Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go. Cap. O, God ye good den! Nurse. May not one speak? La. Cap. You are too hot. Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train❜d," Proud can I never be of what I hate; Proud,—and, I thank you,-and, I thank you Thank me no thankings, nor proud me But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next, You tallow face! La. Cap. Fie, fie! what are you mad? a (D) gives us air. b Meant love-meant as love. c (C) has this line, which is not in the folio: "And yet not proud;-Mistress, minion, you." you be not, hang, beg, starve, die i' the streets, For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee, Nor what is mine shall never do thee good: Trust to 't, bethink you, I'll not be forsworn. La. Cap. Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word; Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. [Exit. Jul. O God!-0 nurse! how shall this be prevented? My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven; Upon so soft a subject as myself! What say'st thou hast thou not a word of joy? Some comfort, nurse. Nurse. 'Faith, here 't is : Romeo Is banished; and all the world to nothing, Romeo's a dishclout to him; an eagle, madam, ILLUSTRATIONS OF ACT III. A 1 1 1 1 SCENE I.-"Affection makes him false." THERE is a slight particle of untruth in Benvolio's statement, which, to a certain degree, justifies this charge of Lady Capulet. Tybalt was bent upon quarrelling with Romeo, but Mercutio forced on his own quarrel with Tybalt. Dr. Johnson's remark upon this circumstance is worthy his character as a moralist :-"The charge of falsehood on Benvolio, though produced at hazard, is very just. The author, who seems to intend the character of Benvolio as good, meant, perhaps, to show how the best minds, in a state of faction and discord, are detorted to criminal partiality." 2 SCENE II." God save the mark!" This expression occurs in the First Part of Henry IV., in Hotspur's celebrated speech defending the denial of his prisoners. In Othello, we have God bless the mark. In these cases, as in the instance before us, the commentators leave the expression in its original obscurity. May we venture a conjecture? The mark which persons who are unable to write are required to make, instead of their signature, is in the form of a cross; but anciently the use of this mark was not confined to illiterate persons, for, amongst the Saxons, the mark of the cross, as an attestation of the good faith of the person signing, was required to be attached to the signature of those who could write, and to stand in the place of the signature of those who could not write. (See Blackstone's Commentaries.) The ancient use of the mark was universal; and the word mark was, we believe, thus taken to signify the cross. God save the mark was, therefore, a form of ejaculation approaching to the character of an oath; in the same manner as assertions were made emphatic by the addition of "by the rood," or, "by the holy rood." 3 SCENE III. "Like powder in a skill less soldier's flask." The force and propriety of this comparison are manifest; but, fully to understand it, we must know how the soldier of Shakspere's time was accoutred. His heavy gun was fired with a match, his powder was carried in a flask; and the match and the powder, in unskilful hands, were doubtless sometimes productive of accidents; so that the man-at-arins was, like Romeo in his passion "dismembered with his own defence." 4 SCENE V.-"Juliet's chamber." The stage direction in the folio edition of 1623 is, "Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft." In the first quarto, 1597, the direction is, "Enter Romeo and Juliet at the window." To understand these directions, we must refer to the construction of the old theatres. "Towards the rear of the stage," says Malone," there appears to have been a balcony or upper stage; the platform of which was probably eight or nine feet from the ground. I suppose it to have been supported by pillars. From hence, in many of our old plays, part of the dialogue was spoken; and in the front of it curtains likewise were hung, so as occasionally to conceal the persons in it from the view of the audience. At each side of this balcony was a box very inconveniently situated, which was sometimes called the private box. In these boxes, which were at a lower price, some persons sate, either from economy or singularity." The balcony probably served a variety of purposes. Malone says, "When the citizens of Angiers are to appear on the walls of their town, aud young Arthur to leap from the battlements, I suppose our ancestors were contented with seeing them in the balcony already described; or, perhaps, a few boards tacked together, and painted so as to resemble the rude discoloured walls of an old town, behind which the platform might have been placed near the top, on which the citizens stood." It appears to us probable that even in these cases the balcony served for the platform, and that a few painted boards in front supplied the illusion of wall and tower. There was still another use of the balcony. According to Malone, when a play was exhibited within a play, as in Hamlet, the court, or audience, before whom the interlude was performed, sate in the balcony. To Malone's historical account of the English stage, and to Mr. Collier's valuable details regarding theatres (Annals of the Stage, vol. iii.), the reader is referred for 1 T |